Who goes there?
by Munchkin
Summary: A murder of a three year old in a bad neighborhood has SVU stumped.


Who Goes There?  
  
Jeremy walked through Central Park thinking where he could get his next drink. Although he was more tired then thirsty. That night he had slept under a bench covered in newspaper. Maybe he would go to the shelter to get some shut eye. He approached the fountain to urinate finding something in it covered with newspapers. Closer examination showed the body of a little blond girl. Jeremy ran to the nearest pay phone.  
  
The police arrived and closed off the area taking pictures and questioning Jeremy. A crowd of watchers and reporters watched as Det. Olivia Benson and Det. Elliott Stabler came on scene. They looked at the body then the police removed the child's body. Stabler approached Jeremy knowing him well, "What did you see?"  
  
"A body in the fountain. I swore I did not see anyone. I slept here all night. Elliott, you know where the shelter is. I'll be there for the next couple of days."  
  
The body was taken to the police coroner who examined the body. The little girl had been raped and strangled to death. The child had been dead for at least three days.  
  
Stabler and Benson went to the squad room to find Det. John Munch sitting at his desk with a list of missing child reports. All of them telling of a child between the ages of two to five years of age. All girls with blond hair, blue eyes. Munch announced, "Well, I narrowed it down to three possible children."  
  
Stabler dropped the picture of the little girl's face in front of Munch who examined it then flipping through the papers, "Meet Becky Wyatt. She has been missing three days, reported missing by Jesse Wyatt, her father."  
  
Apartment of Jesse Wyatt  
1907 NE 27th Ave.  
Monday, October 7th  
  
"You found my little girl?" asked Jesse who was in his early forties with long sandy hair. Jesse's dress was T-shirt with a plaid shirt on top and old blue jeans. He lie against a big blue pillow on the sofa. The apartment wasn't fancy but looked as though he made due with what he had.  
  
Stabler and Benson sat in chair by him giving him a picture of the little girl, "That's her. That's my Becky."  
  
Jesse started crying as a woman came out of the kitchen with coffee and a glass of water. She sat on the arm of the sofa and asked, "What happened to Becky?"  
  
"She was raped and strangled to death." said Stabler.  
  
"Who would do that to a three-year-old?" commented Jesse sitting up taking the water. He set it down taking a pill out of an orange bottle. He took the pill and downed it with water. Benson saw the name of the pill, "Pain medication?"  
  
"I was a construction worker. I hurt my back a few months back. I'm on disability."  
  
"Mr. Wyatt, where were you the evening your daughter disappeared?"  
  
Jesse looked at Benson with a disbelieving look, "I don't believe this. Elizabeth convinced me to go play Bingo. Her son Chad was baby-sitting Beck. He beeped Elizabeth about 9:00 p.m. It was then we went looking for Becky then finally called the police."  
  
Stabler looked at the woman, "You're Elizabeth?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What about Becky's mother?" asked Benson.  
  
Jesse smirked, "She and I had a sexual relationship about three years ago. Nothing more to it nothing less. She told me she was pregnant and didn't want to baby. Then being thirty-eight I realized this might be my only chance to have a child before I'm too old. Becky's mom died six weeks after she was born of overdose...suicide."  
  
Lincoln High School  
28th N. 10th  
Tues., October 8th  
  
Munch and his partner Odafin Tutuola waited by Chad's car looking occasionally at their watches. Chad's car and two others were the only ones left in the parking lot. Fin looked at his water once more, "All right its 3:30. Where is he?"  
  
"Right there." said Munch.  
  
A teenage boy was walking to them wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans. He looked like a normal teenage senior. He asked, "You the detectives?"  
  
"Yeah." said Munch.  
  
Fin said plainly, "You want to talk here or somewhere else?"  
  
"Here's fine, man."  
  
"You were baby-sitting Becky Wyatt the night she disappeared." stated Munch.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Where did you last see her?"  
  
Chad thought for a second, "You know the playground in the middle of the complex? I was letting her play until bedtime I went to call her in and she wasn't out there. Becky was so chative so I assumed that she was visiting with someone in the apartment. I searched everywhere and when I couldn't find her I called Mom."  
  
"You didn't see anyone suspicious?"  
  
"No."  
  
At the office the detectives gathered reading statements. People agreed Chad had come to several apartments looking for Becky. Jesse and Elizabeth arrived at the apartment complex at 9:30 p.m. They hunted for Becky for at least 45 minutes then called police. There seemed to no real answers to their questions.  
  
"This apartment complex isn't in the best part of New York." said Fin, "Its no Harlem but there are two halfway houses and a in-patient mental institution. The parents put up a fence and at all times there are watchful eyes on the children. These people may not have much but they make due with what they have."  
  
Benson took a seat on the desk, "Fibers were found by the lab on Becky's pink shorts, green and light blue fibers."  
  
Munch suggested they try to obtain a search warrant for the apartment complex. He and Fin got the middle to top half and Benson and Stabler got the lower to middle half. They were into every apartment looking for a piece of furniture that was either a green or light blue. There were a lot of furniture with light blue or green on it.  
  
Benson and Stabler went into Elizabeth Cook's home finding a light green sofa. Stabler took out tape and stuck to the sofa a few times. Benson turned to see Chad in his room playing a video game. She walked in but he didn't look at her. He didn't seem to notice that she sat on the bed, "Hi, Chad, I'm Det. Olivia Benson."  
  
"I thought Munch and Fin were working the case." Chad continued his game without looking at Benson but he did pause it, "Its my fault that Becky got killed. If I had kept my eye on..."  
  
"Chad, you can't blame yourself."  
  
"I know that its dangerous out there."  
  
Olivia saw some stuff animals sitting on Chad's dresser. What stuck out the most was a jester that was a puppet. Its outfit sparked making it almost impossible to miss. Chad saw Benson looking at the toys, "I bought those toys for Becky. She would sometimes come over. She'd jump on the sofa when Jesse wasn't looking."  
  
"Was Becky ever in your room?"  
  
"No, Mom has me keep the toys in here to keep the living room picked up."  
  
"How well do you know Jesse Wyatt?"  
  
Chad turned his head a bit, "Not to well. He's a bit freaky."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Outside of playing and taking care of Beck all he ever does is sit on the couch and watch TV. I mean if he brings her over because his back is hurting him too bad he just lays there and watching TV. He hardly talks to anyone outside of my Mom and maybe one other person. He hurt his back about six months ago when he tried to lift something. Had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. Mom said Becky was the only reason he recovered as well as he did. Becky didn't matter to me until I started baby-sitting her. She was so cute and out going."  
  
Chad saw Stabler taking fiber samples from Chad's sheets, "What's he doing?"  
  
Fin and Munch was in the office going over papers when a young woman came into the squad room. She asked to speak with the detective working the Becky Wyatt case. Munch invited her to sit, "That would be my partner and I. How can we help you?"  
  
"My name is Amber Young. I read the story about Becky Wyatt. I was walking past the apartments and saw a man carrying little girl with blond hair away."  
  
"Can you describe the man?"  
  
"He looked to be in his mid-thirties. Short brown hair and he had a lazy eye. He was walking towards the halfway houses."  
  
This tip would keep Munch and Fin looking for criminals with lazy eyes who could live in the area. But also those who had committed child abuse, rape, murder. This kept them on the computers for a while and tracking the guy down.  
  
Meanwhile Stabler got a phone call from the crime lab saying the fibers from the Cooks' apartment matched the fibers from Becky's shorts. Benson and Stabler told Munch and Fin they were going to go talk to the Cooks. Munch and Fin nodded their heads. Fin had been on this computer for almost two hours. His eyes were hurting and it seemed never ending. Munch relieved him, "Hey, James Parks lives in the halfway house katty korner from the apartment. Arrest in 1990 for molestation of a child."  
  
Halfway House  
1900 NE 27th Ave.  
Saturday, November 1st  
  
"I don't believe this! You know you're just asking me because at one time I was arrested for molestation." said James Parks.  
  
"A little girl was raped and a woman saw you carrying a little girl away." said Fin trying to intimidate Parks with fear, "If you were there we want to know. If you weren't there we want to know."  
  
Parks lit a cigarette, "Is this about that little girl found in Central Park?"  
  
"Yes." said Munch.  
  
Parks smiled at Munch and Fin who found it less than impressive, "What's so funny, Parks?"  
  
Parks turned his head, "Becky!"  
  
Stabler and Benson knocked on the Cooks' door with Chad being the one to answer it. Benson cut to the point, "We found fibers from the couch in your apartment and the fibers from your sheets match the fibers on Becky's shorts."  
  
"Are you trying to tell me Becky was here the night she died?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Chad stared at them and said, "If fibers carry then would they carry on me from sitting on the couch then Beck sitting on my lap."  
  
"How do you explain fibers from your bed sheets being on Becky's clothes?" asked Stabler.  
  
"Especially since you said that Becky never came into your room." added Benson.  
  
Chad said, "Mom bought me a new mattress we threw the old one out on the playground for the kiddies to jump on."  
  
That threw out all their leads so they left the apartment complex feeling as disappointed as Munch and Fin were. They were sitting at their desks drinking coffee. Munch said, "It was Rebecca Parks, James Parks' daughter, the woman saw."  
  
Fin looked at his watch, "Okay, gang, we're out of leads. Wonna call it a day?"  
  
The unit agreed and were grabbing their coats when Jesse Wyatt came to the squad room. He was inquiring if a toy had been found with or near Becky. There had been but what was he looking for?  
  
"It is a puppet of a jester that has green, purple, and gold on it. Real shiny colors."  
  
Benson said she would check the evidence records and call him. Wyatt turned to go but Stabler asked, "Do you know anything about a mattress that was thrown on the playground for the children to play on?"  
  
Wyatt thought about, "No...Well, someone did throw one on the side of the building about a week before Becky disappeared."  
  
"Could the children have gotten to it?"  
  
"No, see I made the gate door so an adult could open the gate by pulling on the string but its too high for a child. The mattress is on the outside of the door."  
  
"Thank you, Mr. Wyatt, we'll call you in the morning about that puppet."  
  
Wyatt left and the unit looked at each other knowing that Chad had covered something. They hurried asking for a warrant that was issued to them. They drove to the apartments when Fin asked, "How could he have gotten the body out with police and tenets watching?"  
  
"Everyone looked everywhere except the back of the complex which is an ally leading to Central Park." explained Munch.  
  
Cooks' Apartment  
1907 NW 27th Ave.  
December 15th  
  
"Chad Cook, you are under arrest for the rape and murder of Becky Wyatt. You have the right to remain silent." said Stabler reading Chad his rights as Chad just stared back angrily.  
  
Elizabeth opened the door and saw her son being arrested. Wyatt came in shortly after confused by the arrest. He couldn't believe Chad was being arrested until Fin came out of Chad's room with the Jester puppet.  
  
"Hey, Chad, did Becky say you could have this?" asked Fin.  
  
Wyatt looked at the puppet then at Chad, "You bastard!!! You son of a bitch!!! You killed my baby!!!"  
  
Stabler went back to the complex to check up on Elizabeth Cook and Jesse Wyatt. He saw them sitting on the floor. Jesse hugged Elizabeth who saw Stabler and left. Wyatt stood up and shook Stabler's hand, "Thank you, Detective."  
  
"You don't have to thank me."  
  
Jesse opened the door to his apartment, "Want a beer?"  
  
Stabler hesitated but he was off duty, "Sure."  
  
As Stabler entered the apartment he notice a small sign he had failed to see before. He was staring at it when Wyatt came over with two beers, "Chad tell all?"  
  
"Well, admitted to raping and strangling her but didn't tell us how he got Becky up here. We think he coached her with the puppet. What's with this sign?"  
  
"Becky's mom gave it to me before Becky was a mere thought. Long time ago people put up that warning to keep monsters out. Later I thought it might protect me and my daughter. I guess it has no purpose when the monster is in the village."  
  
Stabler looked at the sign again,  
  
Beyond These Walls  
There Be Monsters  
  



End file.
